Post a response to this discussion thread
CRANKYBLANCA
CHAPTER 10: "Let's do something right for a change."
RBB [voiceover]: I was plunging down a deep ravine, too terrified to scream as I watched the bottom of the gorge hurtling up towards me. At the moment of impact, I awoke sitting bolt-upright, my entire body shaking and my lungs fighting to get air into me.
It was only a dream. Damn, I thought to myself, why couldn't it have been a nice dream? After the preceding night, why couldn't I have had a nice healing dream, or a nice distracting dream, or a pleasant but far-from-nice dream?
I looked over at the adjoining couch. Princess was asleep, her face solemn yet serene in the dim morning light. I stretched and quietly got to my feet. I looked around me and tried to reorient myself.
I remembered that, after Princess and I hugged, we simply lay down on two couches and gave ourselves up to exhaustion. The others seem to have done the same. From what I could tell, Crankyland was still offline. Hans was nowhere to be seen; he'd headed back to the control room, fighting back tears as he continued his survey of the damage.
I realized with a start that we'd lost track of Ivan and Philm Phan, but now there they were, sitting side by side, asleep in comfy chairs. I tried to choke off the inevitable Monty Python references that came bubbling out of my memory.
Chica was awake, looking solemn and brave. She was sitting at a terminal in an alcove at the side of the main dining room of the cafe, typing away quietly and staring at the VDT and occasionally biting her lower lip. I walked over to her, making just enough noise so that she'd pick up that I was approaching but not so much that I'd throw her concentration.
RBB: Hey there.
CHICA: Hello, Professor. How are you this morning?
RBB: Like forty miles of bad road. I'll have to find some coffee.
CHICA: Eamon is awake, and he has a few people in the kitchen trying ot throw some breakfast together. You'll probably have coffee within the next fifteen minutes or so.
RBB: Thanks. This whole thing last night can't have been easy for you.
CHICA: I saw hurricanes when I was growing up, but I haven't been in the middle of anything like this before.
RBB: You did really well -- I was impressed, and I don't impress easily. You've got guts as well as brains.
CHICA: Thanks. What happened?
RBB [voiceover]: Out of the corner of my eye I saw Princess stirring, and then getting ready to join us. I figured I'd wait till she was there, too. I wanted to run this stuff by her as well as Chica. I stifled a smile when I realized that Philm Phan and Ivan also were awake and getting ready to join the discussion. This would make things easier. Once everyone was sitting in a tight semicircle around Chica's terminal, I began talking.
RBB: I think that whoever launched the attack last night had two goals in mind. They wanted to hit Crankyland -- a metaphorical assault, hacking expressed here through a hit. And they wanted to draw blood literally, and they got their wish. And they wanted to show us how much contempt they had for our tactic of rounding up the trolls as usual suspects. The two goals add up to steps towards one big goal: They want to bring down Crankyland, and we have to find out why.
PRINCESS OF PMS: They?
RBB: zeppo told us that it was a van. At least two people, and probably three -- one driving and two firing, or one driving, one firing, and one back at whatever home base they had. Philm, Ivan, it's good to see you again. I lost track of you both for a while.
PHILM PHAN: Thank you. We have something to add to the puzzle. Ivan and I were at the head of the crowd leaving the meeting -- we were already out the door and out of the line of fire when the van came round the corner. We managed to get to Ivan's vehicle and gave chase, but we lost the van eventually.
IVAN LEOPOLD: Yes, but not before we learned something odd.
RBB [voiceover]: Behind me, Eamon J Doyle brought in a cart bearing a large urn of coffee, some bagels and rolls, and two pitchers of juice.
EAMON J DOYLE: I apologize for the mess. For some reason, Hans could not get Charlton Casino 2d Cleaning Service on the phone.
RBB [voiceover]: Ivan bolted out of his chair, knocking it over as he did. His face was taut with tension, and he looked as if he wanted to kill.
IVAN: WHO?
EAMON J DOYLE: Charlton Casino 2d Cleaning Service.
PHILM PHAN: My God. It fits. As we were chasing the van, it sideswiped some rosebushes at the end of the circular driveway out front, and the thorns ripped away some covering that was supposed to obscure the van logo. We saw the name Charlton and the number 2 -- but that was all.
RBB: That's too much coincidence for my liking. That explains something. And there's something else we have to do -- now. Doyle, get Hans to sweep that conference room -- hell, make it the whole damn place -- for bugs.
CHICA: Bugs?
RBB: That van didn't just come around the corner at the right time by happenstance. Timing was crucial. They *knew* when we were coming out; they *knew* when zeppo was going to begin rounding up the trolls. There was only one way they could have known -- and that's a listening device.
EAMON J DOYLE: I will attend to it myself.
IVAN: I have some temporary jamming devices that you should seed around the cafe; they will render any listening devices inoperative until you check the entire place with care.
EAMON J DOYLE: Thank you, Mr. Leopold. I will place them at once.
RBB: Ivan, get on the phone to Lieutenant JYD and find out the body count from him. I want to know whether MickieT was one of the corpses or not.
PHILM PHAN: We never saw him.
RBB: Exactly.
RBB [voiceover]: I was feeling the stirrings of excitement, for a change. They'd made a mistake or two, and maybe that would be enough to even the score. Suddenly a young, timid waiter tapped me on the shoulder. I stifled the urge to jump out of my skin.
xyz: Professor Bernstein?
RBB: What is it?
xyz: There's a man out front. He insists on seeing you. I told him we were closed, but ....
RBB: What's his name?
xyz: Something weird. Bad -- Batz --
RBB: Badtz Maru?
xyz: Yes.
RBB: Get him in here.
RBB [voiceover]: It wasn't exactly the cavalry charging over the hill in time to save the day, but I figured that I'd take what I could get. Badtz Maru was one of the best hackers and anti-hackers I knew. And in recent months he'd changed a lot, and for the better. I figured that he was guaranteed to be on our side against whoever it was who was trying to bring down Crankyland, and I knew that his skills were just what we needed.
xyz came back, with Badtz Maru following in his wake. The man was well over six feet tall, and stooped in the way that very tall men are when they are trying to live in a normal-sized world. He had a long, sad face, formerly chubby but losing both the odd flabbiness and the shut-in pallor that most hackers have. I knew that Badtz Maru was trying to take better care of himself, and I was glad to see some of the results. He had brown hair that needed cutting, and every now and then he ran his hand through it in a nervous gesture. He was getting better at dealing face-to-face with people, but he had had a hard and nasty life, one in which too many people had left tire-tracks across his soul, and he was still getting used to the idea that other people were not out to get him. I stood and offered him my hand, which, after a moment's hesitation, he shook. I introduced him to the others, and at their friendly nods and welcoming words he relaxed a bit more. He sat down and accepted a glass of orange juice. xyz went to get Hans as I filled Badtz Maru in. Meanwhile, Eamon J Doyle was carefully placing Ivan's antibug devices all around the cafe.
RBB: Badtz, we think we have a problem. There seems to be some sort of ghost trace affecting Crankyland's website, and we need to trace it.
BADTZ MARU: I can do that. Ghost traces? I already have a couple of ideas. What happened here?
PRINCESS OF PMS: Somebody carried out a hit on Crankyland and also took out some trolls in the bargain.
BADTZ MARU: Good thing I wasn't on that list of trolls.
RBB: You can say that again. Someone's out to bring this place down; this goes beyond anything we've encountered before, and it's pretty damn scary. What we have to find out is who, and why.
BADTZ MARU: Was MickieT one of the trolls who got whacked?
RBB: No. Not that we can determine. Why do you ask?
BADTZ MARU: He was making some pretty wild threats. I shut him down a bit, because I knew that he was full of crap, but he was pretty damn angry. Do you think that he could be part of the problem?
PRINCESS OF PMS: He sure as hell isn't part of the solution.
RBB [voiceover]: At this point xyz returned, an exhausted Hans in tow. The two computer mavens started talking -- first sparring a bit to size each other up, and then more animatedly comparing notes and crosschecking theories. I couldn't follow the technobabble, but it seemed ot make sense to both of them, and to Ivan, who was nodding eagerly. Then the three of them headed back to Hans's control room. But first I stopped Hans.
RBB: Hans, Eamon J Doyle tells me that you had trouble getting in touch with the Charlton Casino the 2d Cleaning Service?
HANS: Yes, Professor. Their phone has been disconnected, and nobody has any information.
RBB: When you finish with Badtz Maru and Ivan, pull their billing address and let's go hunting. I have a funny feeling that there are some answers they can give us.
RBB [voiceover]: With a curt nod, Hans headed back to the Crankyland nerve center. Then Princess, who had been speaking on a telephone, passed the receiver over to me.
PRINCESS: It's JYD.
RBB: How are you this a.m.?
JYD [on phone]: Like shit warmed over, what do you think?
RBB: Welcome to the club, pal. What's the body count from last night?
JYD [on phone]: Four dead: T-p, Bolischoy Tavieda, Mr. Wonderful, and X-MAN. zeppo is doing OK, and so, wonder of wonders, is that little putz grundle. HairHead is fine, and Jason Cranky just came out of surgery. He'll make it, no problem. We received a little package at headquarters.
RBB: What was in it?
JYD [on phone]: What do you think was in it? Four photos of Big Ben, each one with a different Roman numeral daubed in red. He's up to ten.
RBB: *They* are up to ten.
JYD [on phone]: I figured as much.
RBB: What word on Bulworth?
JYD [on phone]: We have the APB out on him, but so far no luck.
RBB: He's in on this, Lieutenant, I'd swear to it. I can't say more now. Can you get us an electronics countermeasures team?
JYD [on phone]: They're on their way.
RBB: Thanks, Lieutenant. We'll keep the pork rinds crisp for you.
RBB [voiceover]: I hung up the phone and leaned back in the chair, sipping absently at my coffee. I had a weird feeling that we'd find our answers in two places -- at the place of business of the Charlton Casino 2d Cleaning Service and somewhere in cyberspace -- assuming that Badtz Maru was as good as I knew him to be. The question was, how would these pieces fit together?
The next thing I knew, Eamon J Doyle was standing by my chair.
EAMON J DOYLE: Professor, Hans wants you to join him and Badtz Maru and Ivan in the control center. They've found something. Something very disturbing....
RBB [voiceover]: As I bolted out of the chair, Princess following me, I heard the voice of a hero of mine somewhere in the back of my head. I heard Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade telling his secretary, "Let's do something right for a change." I had a feeling that we were about to follow through.
[...to be continued...]
Post a response to this discussion thread